The Common Core State Standards: Implications for

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The Common Core State Standards Implications for
Instructional Leadership

• Professional Development Module 3

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Overview of the Module

• Knowledge to lead implementation of the Common
  Core State Standards.
• Vision to integrate the implementation of the
  Common Core State Standards into broad education
  improvement efforts.
• Metrics to clearly describe what successful
  progress in implementation looks like and
  facilitates a flexible cycle of change.
• Build capacity so that all members of the
  education landscape are learning together.
• Stay engaged to keep informed of the latest
  developments and resources.

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1. Knowledge Common Core State Standards
OverviewRationale, Principles and Shifts
2. Vision An Opportunity to Bring Focus and
Coherence
3. Metrics Clear goals, a picture of progress,
and a commitment to monitor and adjust
4. Build Capacity Support a learning organization
in which learning together is valued
5. Stay Engaged The work is developing. Stay
engaged and continue learning.
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Rationale for the CCSS

• Declining US competitiveness with other developed
  countries
• NAEP performance that is largely flat over the
  past 40 years in 8th grade
• Slight improvement at the 4th grade level
• Slight decline at the high school level
• High rates of college remediation

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Principles of the CCSS

• Aligned to requirements for college and career
  readiness
• Based on evidence
• Honest about time

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Common Core State Standards for ELA/Literacy Key
Shifts
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ELA/Literacy 3 Shifts

• Building knowledge through content-rich
  nonfiction

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Shift 1 Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich
Nonfiction

• Much of our knowledge base comes from
  informational text
• Informational text makes up the vast majority of
  required reading in college/workplace (80)
• Informational text harder for students to
  comprehend than narrative text
• Yet students are asked to read very little of it
  in elementary (7 - 15) and middle school
• CCSS moves percentages to
• 5050 at elementary level
• 6040 at middle school
• 7525 at high school (includes ELA, science,
  social studies)

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ELA/Literacy 3 Shifts

• Building knowledge through content-rich
  nonfiction
• Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in
  evidence from text, both literary and
  informational

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Shift 2 Reading, Writing Speaking Grounded in
Evidence, Both Literary and Informational

• Most college and workplace writing requires
  evidence.
• Ability to cite evidence differentiates strong
  from weak student performance on NAEP
• Evidence is a major emphasis of the ELA
  Standards Reading Standard 1, Writing Standard
  9, Speaking and Listening standards 2, 3 and 4,
  all focus on the gathering, evaluating and
  presenting of evidence from text.
• Being able to locate and deploy evidence are
  hallmarks of strong readers and writers

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ELA/Literacy 3 Shifts

• Building knowledge through content-rich
  nonfiction
• Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in
  evidence from text, both literary and
  informational
• Regular practice with complex text and its
  academic language

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Shift 3 Regular Practice with Complex Text and
its Academic Language

• Gap between complexity of college and high school
  texts is huge.
• What students can read, in terms of complexity is
  greatest predictor of success in college (ACT
  study).
• Too many students reading at too low a level
  (Less than 50 of graduates can read
  sufficiently complex texts).
• Standards include a staircase of increasing text
  complexity from elementary through high school.
• Standards also focus on building vocabulary that
  is shared across many types of complex texts and
  many content areas.

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Activity
Reflecting on the Shifts for ELA/Literacy
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Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Key
Shifts
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Mathematics 3 Shifts

• Focus Focus strongly where the standards focus.

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Shift 1 Focus Strongly where the Standards Focus

• Significantly narrow the scope of content and
  deepen how time and energy is spent in the math
  classroom.
• Focus deeply on what is emphasized in the
  standards, so that students gain strong
  foundations.

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Traditional U.S. Approach
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Focusing Attention Within Number and Operations
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Key Areas of Focus in Mathematics
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Mathematics 3 Shifts

• Focus Focus strongly where the standards focus.
• Coherence Think across grades, and link to major
  topics

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Shift 2 Coherence Think Across Grades, and
Link to Major Topics Within Grades

• Carefully connect the learning within and across
  grades so that students can build new
  understanding on foundations built in previous
  years.
• Begin to count on solid conceptual understanding
  of core content and build on it. Each standard is
  not a new event, but an extension of previous
  learning.

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Coherence Think Across Grades

• Example Fractions
• The coherence and sequential nature of
  mathematics dictate the foundational skills that
  are necessary for the learning of algebra. The
  most important foundational skill not presently
  developed appears to be proficiency with
  fractions (including decimals, percents, and
  negative fractions). The teaching of fractions
  must be acknowledged as critically important and
  improved before an increase in student
  achievement in algebra can be expected.
• Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory
  Panel (2008, p. 18)

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Coherence Link to Major Topics Within Grades
Example Data Representation
Standard 3.MD.3
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Coherence Link to Major Topics Within Grades
Example Geometric Measurement
3.MD, third cluster
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Mathematics 3 Shifts

• Focus Focus strongly where the standards focus.
• Coherence Think across grades, and link to major
  topics
• Rigor In major topics, pursue conceptual
  understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and
  application

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Shift 3 Rigor In Major Topics, Pursue
Conceptual Understanding, Procedural Skill and
Fluency, and Application

• The CCSSM require a balance of
• Solid conceptual understanding
• Procedural skill and fluency
• Application of skills in problem solving
  situations
• Pursuit of all threes requires equal intensity in
  time, activities, and resources.

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Required Fluencies in K-6
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Standards for Mathematical Practice
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• You have just purchased an expensive Grecian urn
  and asked the dealer to ship it to your house. He
  picks up a hammer, shatters it into pieces, and
  explains that he will send one piece a day in an
  envelope for the next year. You object he says
  dont worry, Ill make sure that you get every
  single piece, and the markings are clear, so
  youll be able to glue them all back together.
  Ive got it covered. Absurd, no? But this is the
  way many school systems require teachers to
  deliver mathematics to their students one piece
  (i.e. one standard) at a time. They promise their
  customers (the taxpayers) that by the end of the
  year they will have covered the
  standards.
• Excerpt from The Structure is the Standards
• Phil Daro, Bill McCallum, Jason Zimba

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Activity
Reflecting on the Shifts for Mathematics
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1. Knowledge Common Core State Standards
OverviewRationale, Principles and Shifts
2. Vision An Opportunity to Bring Focus and
Coherence
3. Metrics Clear goals, a picture of progress,
and a commitment to monitor and adjust
4. Build Capacity Support a learning organization
in which learning together is valued
5. Stay Engaged The work is developing. Stay
engaged and continue learning.
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Visionary Leadership CCSS as an Opportunity to
Lead with Focus and Coherence

• Clear vision of college and career readiness for
  all students.
• Cannot be viewed as one more thing to do.
• Leadership decisions are filtered through the
  shifts.

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Strategies for Alignment

• Key questions to be asking
• What are you including as questions on local
  assessments?
• What do you value in PD?
• What do you look for in teacher observations?
• How are you spending
• Money?
• Time?
• Energy?
• How are you revising or revisiting policies and
  procedures
• Calculator usage
• Classroom libraries

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Discussion

• What policies, procedures, and/or work within
  your district, school, or classroom are impacted
  by the Common Core State Standards?

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1. Knowledge Common Core State Standards
OverviewRationale, Principles and Shifts
2. Vision An Opportunity to Bring Focus and
Coherence
3. Metrics Clear goals, a picture of progress,
and a commitment to monitor and adjust
4. Build Capacity Support a learning organization
in which learning together is valued
5. Stay Engaged The work is developing. Stay
engaged and continue learning.
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Metrics What it Looks Like

• Directly connected to visionary leadership.
• Everyone in the system needs clarity around the
  goals what it will look like when implemented.
• Metrics let us know what progress we are making
  in meeting goals.
• The system must be set up to collect progress
  data, and also monitor and adjust.

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Areas to Watch for Progress

• In relation to the shifts and your goals,
  consider
• Teacher knowledge and practice
• Instructional materials and resources
• Student work

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Examples of Metrics
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Activity
Developing Metrics
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1. Knowledge Common Core State Standards
OverviewRationale, Principles and Shifts
2. Vision An Opportunity to Bring Focus and
Coherence
3. Metrics Clear goals, a picture of progress,
and a commitment to monitor and adjust
4. Build Capacity Support a learning organization
in which learning together is valued
5. Stay Engaged The work is developing. Stay
engaged and continue learning.
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Build Capacity

• You are acting as lead learner this content is
  new to everyone.
• Not an issue of compliance.
• Teachers need opportunities to learn and process
  these expectations not just a new scope and
  sequence.
• Everyone in the system needs to appreciate this
  initiative for what it is, an opportunity to
  reform education.
• Recognize this as hard work, worth doing.

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Stages of Change

• Look for people to go through the stages of
  awareness, application and experimentation, and
  ownership.

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Activity
Building Capacity for the Work
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1. Knowledge Common Core State Standards
OverviewRationale, Principles and Shifts
2. Vision An Opportunity to Bring Focus and
Coherence
3. Metrics Clear goals, a picture of progress,
and a commitment to monitor and adjust
4. Build Capacity Support a learning organization
in which learning together is valued
5. Stay Engaged The work is developing. Stay
engaged and continue learning.
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Stay Engaged

• Unleash the potential of Common in Common Core
  State Standards
• Professional organizations
• State leadership

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Discussion/Activity

• Using your understanding of the shifts and
  implications for instructional leadership,
  identify additional web resources to engage
• District-level personnel
• School-level administrators
• Instructional support
• Teachers
• Students
• Parents
• Describe the source of information as well as the
  evidence which demonstrates alignment to the
  standards.